Tools

Massive Fireball Reported Across Midwestern Sky

When: Sat., Jan. 22 and Sat., Jan. 29 2011Price: $12 online, $15 or pay what you can at the doorrhinofest.com

A few of the poised, crafty monologists of BoyGirlBoyGirl were slightly off on opening night, dropping lines and showing excessive fondness for digression. But the group's standards are so high that their off is anybody else's terrific. There's no shortage of expertly drawn images and evocative observations in this collection of autobiographical pieces. Stephanie Shaw likens a midwestern pre-tornado sky to the glow of an illuminated swimming pool at night. Diana Slickman remembers being a precocious 11-year-old and recognizing that the crack in the concrete basement floor of her cloistered suburban home was portentous because she'd "read some Bronte." And laser-focused pieces about unexpected crises by Edward Thomas-Herrera and Susan McLaughlin-Karp raise the BoyGirlBoyGirl standard higher than ever. --Justin Hayford